Demand Spring Promotion

During the months of March and April, PMPs that purchase a minimum of four quarts of Demand CS will receive $10 off per quart. PMPs that purchase a minimum of eight two-quart bottles of Demand EZ will receive $5 off per bottle.

Now, sticking with the power of Demand CS and EZ with iCAP Technology not only controls 30 pests through 10,000 iCAPs per treated inch, it saves PMPs money. During the months of March and April, PMPs that purchase a minimum of four quarts of Demand CS will receive $10 off per quart*. PMPs that purchase a minimum of eight two-quart bottles of Demand EZ will receive $5 off per bottle*.

Redemption is easy. PMPs and distributors don’t need to fill out any forms or take any extra steps. Rebate checks will be mailed by Syngenta within 8-12 weeks after the end of the promotional period (April 30, 2012).

“The 2011 Technicians of the Year are representative of the many outstanding service professionals in the pest control industry,” said PCT Managing Editor Brad Harbison. “Whether it’s mentoring new service technicians, assisting with training programs or growing their routes through sales efforts, each of this year’s winners truly goes above and beyond their job description.”

Wiles came to Hulett Environmental Services after having served as head safety officer for 13 power plants. Her coworkers and clients regard her as a knowledgeable, friendly and reliable professional. Wiles works hard to connect with the community and earn the trust of her customers, many of whom now consider her a friend. In addition to her work at Hulett, Wiles has been involved helping more than 30 charitable organizations during the past 13 years.

Dawson, a 24-year veteran of Griffin Pest Solutions, has been an early adopter and patient teacher of Integrated Pest Management (IPM). He works hard to find solutions that are environmentally responsible and minimally invasive. As a teacher, he believes in thoroughly explaining to customers what he’s doing and why, what they can expect in terms of results and why IPM solutions are preferable to traditional solutions in many situations. Because Dawson services accounts with very low pest thresholds, mostly in the health care and pharmaceutical segment, this customer education is vital.

Gaudreault has become a leader at Orkin’s Collinsville, Ill. branch office due to his positive attitude and willingness to do the little things to meet and exceed customer expectations. A termite technician for the past seven years, Gaudreault has excelled at a job that requires problem solving and attention to detail. He serves as a model mentor to new service technicians, exhibiting patience and dedication necessary to train others.

PCT received dozens of nominations for from pest control companies throughout the U.S. of various size and make-up. Managers/owners were asked to evaluate service technicians in several areas including: technical skills; communication skills; service to company/community; and their mentoring role within the company. All of the nominations were reviewed by a panel of pest control industry experts who determined the winners.

The 2011 Technicians of the Year will be profiled in the April issue of PCT magazine.

NPMA Celebrates 25 Years of Legislative Day

The National Pest Management Association celebrated 25 years of Legislative Day last week, and while the issues have changed throughout years, the need to raise Capitol Hill awareness of issues impacting the pest control industry is as strong as ever.

WASHINGTON – The National Pest Management Association celebrated 25 years of Legislative Day last week, and while the issues have changed throughout years, the need to raise Capitol Hill awareness of issues impacting the pest control industry is as strong as ever.

Bob Rosenberg, senior vice president, NPMA, said he likens today’s political climate in Washington to that of 1996 when a flurry of legislation made its way through Congress. The Congress of 1996 had developed a reputation as a "do-nothing Congress" with little to show for itself. Many of these congressional members (about 470) were facing re-election and did not want to return to their constituents with that type of reputation. So, in the course of two weeks that Congress passed the Health Care Affordability Act; a Medicare bill; the Safe Drinking Water Act; and the Food Quality Protection Act. “We’re in precisely the kind of climate where things can happen and they can happen fast,” said Rosenberg.

Attendees of the 2012 Legislative Day headed to Capitol Hill last week to make their collective voices heard on the following issues.

Clean Water Act. Legislative Day attendees asked their representatives to support H.R. 872, the Reducing Regulatory Burdens Act. This legislation was necessitated by a misguided 2009 federal court ruling that requires costly and burdensome Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) permits for millions of pesticide applications. The permit will interfere with and add cost to longstanding activities such as mosquito control and aquatic weed work – work performed by some pest management professionals. Legislation exempting lawful pesticide applications from CWA permitting requirements passed the U.S. House with overwhelming bipartisan support last March. Despite widespread support, H.R. 872 has not been given an up or down vote in the U.S. Senate.

SEPA. Congressman Rush Holt (D-N.J.) is expected to introduce the School Environment Protection Act (SEPA), a prescriptive, one-size fits all bill that would require schools in Georgia to manage pest just as schools in Alaska, regardless of pest pressure or other geographical factors. Almost 40 states have laws or regulations in place specific to the management of pests in school – some of which are more than 20 years old – and SEPA would only serve to undermine those laws and confuse the many stakeholders that have helped craft and are impacted by such policies.

Political strategist Dick Morris.

Legislative Day attendees encouraged their representatives to consider the industry’s position on SEPA: that any effort to move SEPA – either as a stand-alone bill or as an amendment to another measure – should be rejected, as states are effectively regulating the management of pests at schools and don’t need federal legislation interfering with and undermining their efforts in this area.
Sulfuryl Fluoride Uses. In 2004, EPA registered sulfuryl fluoride for control of insect pests in harvested and processed foods such as cereal grains, dried fruits, tree nuts, cocoa beans, coffee beans, and also in food handling and processing facilities. The fumigant is considered an alternative to methyl bromide, which is being phased out. However, the product has come under attack from the activist group FAN (Fluoride Action Network), which has a waged a lengthy campaign to remove sulfuryl fluoride usage in food-processing facilities. FAN claims the use of sulfuryl fluoride will introduce unacceptable levels of fluoride to consumers and can cause medical risks, mainly dental fluorosis, a condition where overexposure to fluoride can damage the enamel on teeth. However, even U.S. EPA acknowledges that sulfuryl fluoride contributes no more that 2-3% of the public’s exposure to fluoride, noting that “Use of sulfuryl fluoride is responsible for a tiny fraction of aggregate fluoride exposure” and “Elimination of sulfuryl fluoride does not solve, or even significantly decrease, the fluoride aggregate exposure problems...” Furthermore, over the last several years, US EPA has aggressively encouraged the professional pest management industry and the food sector to move from methyl bromide – a fumigant identified as an ozone depleting substance and slated for phase-out – to sulfuryl fluoride, and both the pest management industry and food sector have been moving in good faith to sulfuryl fluoride. Some groups in the food sector are now completely reliant on sulfuryl fluoride and the loss of the product would have devastating economic consequences. The industry’s position is that the U.S. EPA should withdraw its misguided proposed order cancelling the food uses for sulfuryl fluoride and Congress should closely oversee the Agency to see that it does so.

Bed Bugs. H.R. 967, the “Bed Bug Management, Prevention and Research Act of 2011,” was introduced by Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH). It initiated and directed a common-sense strategic federal response to the bed bug pandemic. Specifically, the bill authorizes, as part of an existing program, federal bed bug research funding to resume, on a broad scale, work that has been neglected for 50 years and requires efficacy testing for minimum risk pesticides – pesticide that are exempt from US EPA’s registration process - to protect consumers from products that don’t effectively manage bed bug infestations. H.R. 967 has been referred to the House Subcommittee on Nutrition and Horticulture, but NPMA believes there might be opportunities to insert provisions or language from H.R. 967 into the 2012 Farm Bill.

OTHER ACTIVITIES. In addition to lobbying for the aforementioned issues, attendees of Legislative Day heard from the following keynote speakers: Haley Barbour (R-MS) and political strategist Dick Morris. Barbour, called one of “the most powerful Republicans in politics,” is the former governor of Mississippi and former chairman of the Republican Governor’s Association. Barbour now works as a political strategist. Barbour’s presentation was sponsored by FMC Professional Solutions.

Among the most prominent American political consultants in the country, Morris is almost universally credited with piloting Bill Clinton to a stunning comeback re-election victory in 1996 after the president lost Congress to the Republicans two years prior. His presentation was sponsored by Dow AgroSciences.

Legislative Day also included several educational sessions covering a variety of issues important to the pest control industry, including a panel discussion about how changes to the pyrethroid label will impact the pest control industry. The FMC Legislative Day Award was presented to Larry Treleven on Monday; and on Tuesday, PCT presented the 2011 Technician of the Year Awards to this year’s winners. PCT will have additional coverage of Legislative Day online and in print.

Bed Bug Services in Spain Up 70% in Last Five Years

Spain and Portugal have verified a 70% increase in requested bed bug control services during the past five years, meaning these countries are longer foreign to this emerging worldwide plague, eradicated from Spain half a century ago.

Editor’s note: Pest control experts from Spain and other European countries gathered last week in Madrid, Spain for Expocide Iberia 2012, presented by ANECPLA (Pest Control Companies National Association). Esther Martínez del Olmo of ANECPLA provided the following recap.

MADRID, Spain — Spain and Portugal have verified a 70% increase in requested bed bug control services during the past five years, meaning these countries are longer foreign to this emerging worldwide plague, eradicated from Spain half a century ago.

This is one of the main conclusions included in a report elaborated by ANECPLA (Pest Control Companies National Association), in cooperation with the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), which analyzes the incidence this plague is having in Spain and Portugal and that has been presented in Expocide Iberia 2012.

According to Milagros Fernández de Lezeta, ANECPLA’s general manager and host of this event, “Bed bugs have turned out to be a social issue, and due to the difficulties in eradicating this emerging plague, it’s mandatory that society has all information available to detect and prevent it. Therefore, all parts involved must collaborate, such as premises managers, service companies and health authorities”.

According to this research, 80% of pest control companies have carried out services related to bedbug eradication. Most of those services along these past 5 years have taken place in homes (35%), hotels, guest and boarding houses (30%), hostels (10%), catering trade (5%), followed by old people’s homes, public transport, schools, nurseries, universities and leisure centers (bowling alleys, cinemas).

The main cause for contracting these specialized services is infestation, which is when the plague is already present, followed by complaints and prevention, though 45% of clients do not contract routine check-ups after pest control procedures. 47% of Spanish clients do employ preventive methods after these treatments (mattress covers, etc), but in Portugal only 15% act accordingly.

Travel and Tourism, main cause of resurgence
Bedbugs, present in most of the Spanish Autonomous Regions and especially in the most touristic ones, are caused due to an increase in travel and tourism, followed by contaminated luggage and merchandise transport, the absence of inspections, the denial of incidents and the lack of notifications as well as the resistance to biocides used to fight against this plague or the inadequate use of insecticides.

“Along the past years, milder winters and shorter reproductive cycles plus merchandise and people transport have favoured the dissemination of new plagues that we must fight and confront to avoid possible sanitary risks,” added Fernández de Lezeta.

Bed bugs are night insects which feed solely on blood, preferably human; therefore they usually are located near their feeding source: man. Mattresses, bedside tables, bed bases, beds, wardrobes, sofas and chairs, even skirting boards or doors are a common hiding place of this plague that produces unpleasant stings and that has lately turned out to be a social issue worldwide.

OTHER TOPICS. Other topics considered by the more than 300 experts attending this second edition have been the biological threat of emerging and re-emerging vectorial diseases or the impact invading exotic species such as the American cockroach, the tiger mosquito, the Monk parakeet or Asian wasps have on public health, as well as other current sanitary problems such as the prevention and control of legionella, urban bird plagues, plagues that attack wood or biocide products restrictions in the EU.

Along two days, the Expocide Iberia 2012 Trade Fair and Meeting has gathered at IFEMA’s North Convention Center in Madrid over 1,600 experts from all over the world from areas such as plague control, public health, manufacturers and distributors of biocide services, Public Administration representatives, health experts, scientific community, universities, veterinaries and entomologists as well as trade and general media. EXPOCIDA IBERIA has occupied 1800 square meters.

All of them have agreed in highlighting the relevance of introducing a preventive culture in society, in addition to encouraging public awareness, being of utmost importance the constant updating of sector companies, which must project a real and current image of a constantly evolving industry, more and more professionalized and that has to constantly adapt to new regulations, clients and sectors or even new plagues.

Bed Bug Services in Spain Up 70% in Last Five Years

Spain and Portugal have verified a 70% increase in requested bed bug control services during the past five years, meaning these countries are longer foreign to this emerging worldwide plague, eradicated from Spain half a century ago.

Editor’s note: Pest control experts from Spain and other European countries gathered last week in Madrid, Spain for Expocide Iberia 2012, presented by ANECPLA (Pest Control Companies National Association). Esther Martínez del Olmo of ANECPLA provided the following recap.

MADRID, Spain — Spain and Portugal have verified a 70% increase in requested bed bug control services during the past five years, meaning these countries are longer foreign to this emerging worldwide plague, eradicated from Spain half a century ago.

This is one of the main conclusions included in a report elaborated by ANECPLA (Pest Control Companies National Association), in cooperation with the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM), which analyzes the incidence this plague is having in Spain and Portugal and that has been presented in Expocide Iberia 2012.

According to Milagros Fernández de Lezeta, ANECPLA’s general manager and host of this event, “Bed bugs have turned out to be a social issue, and due to the difficulties in eradicating this emerging plague, it’s mandatory that society has all information available to detect and prevent it. Therefore, all parts involved must collaborate, such as premises managers, service companies and health authorities”.

According to this research, 80% of pest control companies have carried out services related to bedbug eradication. Most of those services along these past 5 years have taken place in homes (35%), hotels, guest and boarding houses (30%), hostels (10%), catering trade (5%), followed by old people’s homes, public transport, schools, nurseries, universities and leisure centers (bowling alleys, cinemas).

The main cause for contracting these specialized services is infestation, which is when the plague is already present, followed by complaints and prevention, though 45% of clients do not contract routine check-ups after pest control procedures. 47% of Spanish clients do employ preventive methods after these treatments (mattress covers, etc), but in Portugal only 15% act accordingly.

Travel and Tourism, main cause of resurgence
Bedbugs, present in most of the Spanish Autonomous Regions and especially in the most touristic ones, are caused due to an increase in travel and tourism, followed by contaminated luggage and merchandise transport, the absence of inspections, the denial of incidents and the lack of notifications as well as the resistance to biocides used to fight against this plague or the inadequate use of insecticides.

“Along the past years, milder winters and shorter reproductive cycles plus merchandise and people transport have favoured the dissemination of new plagues that we must fight and confront to avoid possible sanitary risks,” added Fernández de Lezeta.

Bed bugs are night insects which feed solely on blood, preferably human; therefore they usually are located near their feeding source: man. Mattresses, bedside tables, bed bases, beds, wardrobes, sofas and chairs, even skirting boards or doors are a common hiding place of this plague that produces unpleasant stings and that has lately turned out to be a social issue worldwide.

OTHER TOPICS. Other topics considered by the more than 300 experts attending this second edition have been the biological threat of emerging and re-emerging vectorial diseases or the impact invading exotic species such as the American cockroach, the tiger mosquito, the Monk parakeet or Asian wasps have on public health, as well as other current sanitary problems such as the prevention and control of legionella, urban bird plagues, plagues that attack wood or biocide products restrictions in the EU.

Along two days, the Expocide Iberia 2012 Trade Fair and Meeting has gathered at IFEMA’s North Convention Center in Madrid over 1,600 experts from all over the world from areas such as plague control, public health, manufacturers and distributors of biocide services, Public Administration representatives, health experts, scientific community, universities, veterinaries and entomologists as well as trade and general media. EXPOCIDA IBERIA has occupied 1800 square meters.

All of them have agreed in highlighting the relevance of introducing a preventive culture in society, in addition to encouraging public awareness, being of utmost importance the constant updating of sector companies, which must project a real and current image of a constantly evolving industry, more and more professionalized and that has to constantly adapt to new regulations, clients and sectors or even new plagues.